Disclaimer: Not mine, otherwise Harmony would have sailed.
A/N: My reply to the "Vigilante" challenge by Leochick, you can find it here: http://talk.portkey.org/index.php?showtopic=26730 . Hope you will enjoy the story, and please if you read review and let me know what you think of it, ok?
Thanks to my beta Gingercat!
The Vigilante
Chapter Five: First Encounter
When Harry was called into the Minister's office, he knew the man was pissed. He had a right to be so, after all, because the mysterious vigilante had been operating at night for two months, and every time he "convinced" some criminal to turn himself or herself in, the Ministry's credibility on the matter of assuring the safety of the British Wizarding community decreased, and with that, the Minister's credibility.
Darius Vunrabels was a charming man and had used that to his advantage in obtaining his current position and understandably he didn't want to lose it now.[Author ID1: at Fri Apr 18 07:57:00 2008 ]
Harry thought that if he really wanted to keep the position, maybe he should start acting like he was a true leader and have all the peoples best interest at heart. One way to prove this was to stop accepting bribes from those who wanted to stay out of Azkaban when they were know murders.[Author ID1: at Fri Apr 18 07:57:00 2008 ]
The raven haired wizard had been really worried for his best female friend, and lately something more, at least on his part, because the brunette had grown more and more irritable with each one of her failures (which both her and Harry knew didn't depend on her abilities).
This vigilante had Harry's sympathy for another reason, then. Since his rising, Hermione had been much more relaxed, and took her failures in the trials much better. Probably, Harry mused, because she knew sooner or later the vigilante would force those who wormed their way out of the justice's grasp to take responsibility for their actions.
So, yes, Harry really thought this vigilante was a good thing for the Wizarding World, whoever he may be.
"Potter" the Minister acknowledged him.
"Minister" Harry nodded, taking a seat in front of the man.
"We have a dire problem, Auror Potter. This vigilante is making us look ridiculous, especially the Department you belong to, and me as the Minister"
"With all respect, Minister" Harry interjected, "my department is not being diminished by the vigilante's actions. If any, it is the MLE department, and the juries who are in charge of the trials, that should worry about his actions. If anything, all the criminals he convinced to turn themselves in proved we Aurors did our job well, since we had previously arrested all of them, just to see them released after the trial" Harry said.
"Are you implying someone else is not doing their job well, Potter? Because, most of those trials had been led by your dear friend Granger" the Minister nonchalantly said. "It seems you're suggesting she wasn't able to bring them to justice. Maybe we should remove her, so this vigilante wouldn't have to do his "job""
Harry's eyes darkened. "I attended all those trials, being part of the squad who arrested the suspect, Minister, and I know for sure that any jury in the world would have declared them guilty, with the facts Hermione presented them. Maybe it is someone else who should be removed, someone who might care more for his pockets being full than the credibility of the post he represents" Harry snapped, and the Minister glared at him.
"Potter, don't forget that I'm the minister and I can get you kicked out of the Auror Department in no time, even with your perfect file and the suggestions to promote you as Head of the Department"
Harry growled. "Are you blackmailing me, Minister? I assure you, your already low popularity won't gain a single point if you do that"
Darius Vunrabels smirked. "Still, I can do that, Potter. Don't forget it. Now, on the subject of this meeting, I trust you and your team will do your best to capture this vigilante. He's a danger to the society, and needs to be brought in. This assignment has priority over anything else you're working at the moment. I expect comforting results very soon, Auror Potter"
And with that, Harry was dismissed. He had to take a long walk before returning to his office to let off some steam after the conversation.
Nonetheless, he would do what the Minister had asked him to. If anything, he was curious to know who this vigilante was.
--
It took Harry more than a month, considering that he wasn't really working as hard as he should on the case, to get some useful info that would allow him to confront the vigilante.
The Minister had had to do some hasty press declarations to cover himself and Harry enjoyed the fact a single stealthy man could put the most important person in Wizarding society under such a large amount of stress and make his popularity fall so low.
Now, however, the moment had come to meet this man, and Harry waited, wand in hand, crouched in a corner, near the house of Rabastan Lestrange.
The raven haired wizard had analyzed all the information on the mysterious man's activities, and developed a pattern. It seemed that this vigilante was going to punish all of those who had come clear from trails, following a chronological order. It hadn't thus been difficult to guess who would be the "victim" tonight.
As predicted, Harry soon noticed a dark figure slithering through the darkness of the night, and graciously landing in front of the door of the house.
From his position, Harry couldn't see too well, but he soon heard the door being smashed by a Reducto, and then some cries of surprise from inside, some coming from a woman.
"Figures" Harry thought, rolling his eyes. Rabastan was known for his sexual habits, he would pick a new mistress every night, it had been how they had captured him the first time, using an undercover Auror to trap him.
Soon he noticed the scantily clad wench running away from the house, while male shouts came from inside, followed by crashes and grunts of pain. It was evident Lestrange was getting a good lesson, and Harry decided to wait for the vigilante to finish his thing before trying to arrest him.
It took another ten minutes before he heard the former Death Eater whimpering and promising he would turn himself in the next morning. The voice of the vigilante didn't sound familiar to Harry, so he guessed he didn't personally know the man.
Waiting for him to get out, Harry readied himself and cast a stunner at the quickly moving figure. He missed, and the spell alerted the vigilante of his presence.
Harry was confident, he had used the time of his wait to set anti-Apparition wards around the block and no one had ever bested him in a duel, excluding Hermione.
Soon, a stunner left the vigilante's wand, and Harry shielded himself, before casting a volley of hexes at the retreating figure. He must have figured there were anti-Apparition wards in place because he didn't even attempt doing that, just rolled out of the hexes paths with exceptional speed, and Harry was impressed.
The duel lasted for a few more minutes, during which Harry wondered why the vigilante kept only defending himself, casting a stunner now and then but mostly never attacking. If he could best people like Lestrange and Dolohov so easily, why wasn't he trying to best Harry too?
Suddenly, as Harry had to duck behind a garbage bin to avoid a hex, the other man took a broom from his pocket, enlarged it and took flight. Harry was soon after him on his Firebolt, but he realized his mistake when the man managed to get past the anti-apparition wards, and vanished with a soft pop.
"Bugger!" Harry swore under his breath, landing and, frustrated, kicking a pebble away with all his force.
He then sighed, and Apparated home to take a long, hot relaxing shower.
If he wanted to best this man, he had to be more creative and find a way to stop him from fleeing. Now it had become a personal matter, he wanted to know who the man was, how could he be so fast at avoiding hexes and why didn't he attack more heavily to end the duel.
Too many questions, which threatened to give him a headache, so he resolved to forget about it for a few hours.
--
Meanwhile, at Hermione's home, the brunette slumped on the couch, exhausted.
"That was close" she muttered under he breath. She could have fought Harry harder, and probably end the duel faster, but she didn't want to harm him, even with childish hexes.
Luckily, he had only placed wards on the surroundings, and the flying lessons he gave her were enough to make her fast enough to escape him. But if he was on her tail she knew it was just a matter of[Author ID1: at Fri Apr 18 07:57:00 2008 ] time before they would have another confrontation[Author ID1: at Fri Apr 18 07:57:00 2008 ].
She needed to be ready.
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